Up in the Air is the new film by Jason Reitman, who made Thank You for Smoking and Juno.
George Clooney plays Bingham, a man who spends much of his life in the air, travelling around the country to fire people for executives who don't like to do it themselves. He's great at his job and he loves a lifestyle which implies spending most of his time on business class seats and upscale hotels. His apartment is just like a hotel suite. He's happy in the air, trying to get ten million miles flying and avoiding any relationship with his family or a potential girlfriend at all costs. He doesn't want a home. He doesn't want a family.
There are two women in Bingham's life:
An attractive thirty-something (V. Farmiga as Alex), a frequent-traveller as Clooney, with whom he shares meals and makes love in hotels, acting both as a happy couple without any commitment. And a young, bright and ambitious new graduate who works at Clooney's company .She has the idea of cutting costs by using a program to fire people over the Internet instead of in person. Clooney sees his lifestyle threatened, but he is forced to take Natalie on a cross-country trip to show her his skills firing people face to face .
He likes the first one very much, even though he thinks that she could be the woman of his dreams and he wonders if she might be worth the risk. Eventually, Clooney evaluates his comfortable yet superficial existence and begins to question the assumptions that have ruled his life.
Up in the Air is full of good things: wonderful atmospheric aerial shots of American cities, some not-bad one-liners and the Clooney-Farmiga scenes are splendid. Their easy-going relationship represents the heart of the movie. They play a delightful adult love story.
The film is neither a comedy nor a tragedy. It is a hybrid. You will find despair, cynicism and sentiment. Up in the Air is a witty, fresh, romantic, somewhat humorous and entertaining movie. For all that, it is worth going to see it.
(Elena Ortiz, A1)